Safety regulations in most countries require babies and young children to be seated in a special car seat. In general, there is a first type of car seat for infants up to the age of 9-12 months, a second type for babies up to the age of 3-4 years, and a third type of seat for young children in the age of 4-8 years. The first embodiment of the present invention relates to a car seat of said second type, i.e., for babies in the age of 1-4 years. The second embodiment of the invention relates to a car seat system which enables alternative use and replacement between said first type of seat (i.e., infants up to the age of 12 months) and said second type of seat (for older babies of the age of 1-4 years old). The third embodiment of the present invention relates to a baby seat which occupies a minimal space in normal use state, and which is easily foldable into the car trunk during a storage state.
There are various types of car seats for babies. A most conventional baby seat is a separate seat that is positioned on the back (or front) seat of the car, and maintained in place by means of the car safety belts. The baby himself is kept within his seat by means of another set of safety belts that are part of the baby seat. Said type of baby seat provides safety to the baby, while it still occupies the space of one passenger, as long as it is installed in the car. Generally, said conventional baby seat is relatively big and cumbersome, and its release from the belts is not so an easy task. Moreover, these seats are generally installed close to one of the car doors, as otherwise, when the seat is installed at the center of the rear passengers' seat, the positioning and removal of the baby into and out of the seat becomes a relatively hard task. Furthermore, in said conventional seats there are some cases in which the car safety belts are not properly connected to the baby seat, or unintentionally unlocked, therefore introducing a risk to the baby safety in case of an accident. Some efforts have been made in order to provide a car baby seat that is less cumbersome, which enables easier removal, or folding of the seat for enabling a regular passenger to sit instead. For example. U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,070 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,443 disclose a foldable car baby seat which is an integral part of the back of the passenger seat. Such a seat provides a relatively easy transformation from a “baby” mode to a “passenger” mode and saves the storage space that is occupied by the conventional baby seat (when not in use).
EP 1,354,753 discloses still another baby seat system. The system comprises a base, a carriage adapted to receive a baby seat, and an extendable mechanism attaching said carriage to said base, the extendable mechanism is adapted to move the carriage to an outboard passenger loading position (but still inside the car), and to passenger riding position. Said publication proposes locating the base at the center of the car for safety reasons, and extending the extendable mechanism toward the side door of the car for loading or unloading the baby. This system further proposes rotating the carriage during the loading or unloading for convenience of the parent. However, as the carriage is located within the car, the rotation of the carriage and baby seat requires at least a distance of W/2 from the front of the back support of the rear passengers' seat, and at least a distance of W/2 from the rear side of the back support of the driver seat (or from the back of the front passenger seat, as is applicable) in order to enable the rotation of the baby seat or carriage, wherein W is the width of the carriage or of the baby seat—which ever is the largest. Both of said two conditions have to be satisfied together in order to enable rotation. However, such conditions cannot normally be satisfied in view of the length of the baby seat. The present invention overcomes this limitation by providing extensions that perform the rotation of the baby seat at least partially outside the car space of the car. Moreover, even when such two conditions are satisfied, the loading and unloading of a baby within the car space, as is proposed in said publication is less convenient in comparison with the present invention in which the loading and downloading are performed at least partially outside the space of the car. Furthermore, the present invention suggest a transversal linear movement of the baby seat, which when approaching close to the car door is synchronized with rotation of the baby seat in order to enable easy loading and unloading of the baby outside of the car space.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,189 discloses a baby seat system which is positioned proximate to the side door, not at the center of the car. This system, which proposes rotating the baby seat by means of a side, off center vertical axis, requires a distance of W from the rear side of the back support of the driver seat. Furthermore, the loading and unloading of the baby is carried out when the baby seat is rotated 90 degrees relative to the longitudinal axis of the car, and when located fully inside the car. Such a position and orientation, although convenient in cars having a door which is slides on rails for opening, is inconvenient for most family cars in which the door has a one vertical axle for opening, and in which the opening angle is limited to about 45-60 degrees.
There are two main problems associated with the baby seats of the prior art. A first problem involves in the safety of the baby. Most of the prior art baby seats are generally installed by the parents (in the case of the conventional seats) or located (in the case of said integral type) at the side of the back passenger seat. The reason for such positioning involves the comfort of the parents. Generally, it is relatively complicated for the parent to position the baby in his seat when the seat is located at the center of the back passenger seat, a relatively long distance away from the car door. However, there is no doubt that locating the baby at the side of the car, close to the door reduces his safety in case of a side impact due to an accident. Furthermore, locating the baby at the center of the car has still another advantage, by enabling the driver to easily view and supervise the baby using the car mirror, which cannot be carried out when the baby seat is positioned proximate to the car door.
A second problem involves the comfort of the parent while positioning (i.e., loading or unloading) the baby in his seat. Generally, it is very uncomfortable for the parent to put the baby at his seat, when the seat is inside the car, facing the front of the car (babies in the age of 1-4 years old) or the rear of the car (infants up to 12 months old). This problem is particularly due to the fact that the parent has to hold the baby by one of his hands, and therefore has only one free hand by which he can operate. The present invention solves also this problem, by making the loading of the baby into his seat to be simpler, and much more comfortable for the parent.
It is an object of the present invention to enable easy positioning of the baby seat at the center of the rear passengers' seat, thereby to significantly increase the safety of the baby. It is another object to achieve this goal without sacrificing the parent comfort while positioning the baby in his seat.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a baby seat which can move from a position at the side of the car back passengers' seat to a position at the center of the car rear passengers' seat.
It is still another object of the present invention to enable much easier loading or unloading of the baby into or out of his seat. This object is achieved by the providing of rails to which the baby seat is attached, an arrangement that enables pulling the car seat to a location out of the car space. Moreover, when out of the car space, the baby seat rotates to face the parent to provide even more comfort to the parent.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a baby seat that occupies less space than the conventional baby seats, when not in use.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an easy transformation of the car rear passengers' seat between a “baby” mode and “adult passenger” mode.
It is still another embodiment of the present invention to provide a baby seat system which occupies during normal baby use a minimal passengers' space of the rear passengers' seat, and no space of the rear passenger's seat during storage state of the baby car seat, while maintaining very easy transformation between said two states.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide said baby seat which has all the above advantages, and which also enables replacement between an infant seat, and an older baby seat.
Other objects of the present invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.